Wednesday, May 28, 2014

A couple of days ago a friend of mine from high school posted some photos on social media of "ridiculously sweet, but delicious" salted caramel pretzel brownies...and said that they were the anti-Camilla dessert.

I didn't understand exactly what she meant until she said that that the caramel was ice cream topping from a jar/bottle and brownies from a box. Okay. So I accepted her challenge to make a from-scratch version.

I made a salted pretzel crust, topped it with a ricotta-chocolate brownie, and drizzled it with homemade caramel. Needless to say: there were lots of steps involved in this dessert, but it was worth it. Rich, decadent chocolate-y goodness!

If you plan to try this, please read all the way through the recipe as my ingredient lists are divided into the different layers' elements. Would love to hear how yours turn out.

Place the crushed pretzels, flour and sugar, in a 9" x 13" baking dish. Melt the butter and coconut oil and pour it into the baking dish. Use a fork to blend it together until clumps form. Press the remaining base lightly into the pan.

Ingredients for the ricotta-chocolate brownie

1 C organic granulated sugar

1 C butter, softened

4 large eggs

1 C whole milk ricotta

6 oz chocolate chips or chunks, melted

1 t pure vanilla extract

Procedure

Preheat oven to 375° F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until
lightened and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, melted chocolate, and vanilla. Fold in the ricotta. Spoon the batter into the pan with the pretzel crust and bake for
45 to 50 minutes. The brownies will be dark brown, slightly crispy at the
edges and firm on the top.

While the brownies are cooling, make the caramel.

Ingredients for the fleur de sel caramel

1 C organic granulated sugar

1/2 C packed organic brown sugar

1/2 C honey

1 1/2 C organic heavy whipping cream

1/2 C butter

1 t Maldon fleur de sel flakes

ProcedureIn a medium-size pot, combine sugar, brown sugar, honey, whipping cream, butter and sea salt flakes. Simmer over medium heat, monitoring the heat of the mixture with a candy thermometer while stirring. When the thermometer reaches 244 degrees remove the pot from the heat. Cool for at least 10 minutes. You'll need about 1/2 C of caramel.

To finish...
Place intact pretzel thins on top of the brownie. Cut into small pieces.

This simple dish is a testament to the fact that if you start with good ingredients, your food will sparkle. I started with Blue Coco River beans from Coke Farm, onions and celery from the farmers' market, and added in some organic chicken stock and chorizo. The boys helped me schlep our goodies at the market before we started cooking.

13 oz chorizo, cut of out its casing and into thin coins (I used Silva Sausage's chorizo)

1 onion, diced

6 stalks of celery, sliced

6 C organic chicken stock

1 C fresh tomato puree

freshly ground salt

freshly ground pepper

1 T fresh oregano, chopped

Procedure

In a large souppot, cook the onion, celery, and chorizo sliced until the onions turn translucent. Add in beans, chicken stock, and tomato puree. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Cook for 3 hours, stirring every so often to keep the beans from sticking to the bottom. Season to taste with salt and pepper; add in the oregano. Cook for another 30 minutes uncovered at a boil to thicken the soup a bit. Serve hot with slices of bread.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

So this weekend we brought over a Cuban feast to share and fed both of our families. I'm trying to remember how this came about. I think I was raving aboutthe Cuban pop-up at La Balena last monthand asked my friends whose birthday was up next. I was inspired to make a Cuban birthday dinner for someone. Anyone! Jenn piped up: Nicholas is up next! True.

So, as soon as he was born...and as soon as they wanted a dinner delivered, I brought over a Cuban feast. Stay tuned for the recipe posts, but it was all delicious. I will definitely be making these dishes again soon. Here was the menu:

Put all
ingredients except olive oil in blender and pulse to a thick
mixture. Remove
from blender and whisk in olive oil until desired consistency. To serve, place the chimichurri in a bowl and garnish with more sundried tomatoes.

*Note: the sundried tomatoes I have right now are super salty. Not sure why. So, when I used them, I don't use any additional salt.

When I was looking for a sweet bite to end our Cuban-inspired feast, I decided to finally take the plunge and attempt a tres leches cake. We had one for my dad's birthday in Costa Rica years ago. And since then, it's been on my to-cook list. This weekend, I did it!

A note about the spices: they are not traditional. But I had my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf and we all know how much the kid loves his spices.

For those who don't speak Spanish, or haven't had this cake, tres leches means 'three milks.' That mixture is then drizzled over a vanilla sponge cake. It was surprisingly easy and not at all soggy. Nice!

Preheat the oven to 350
degrees F. Prepare a baking dish with parchment paper and butter.

Melt the 1/2 C of butter in a small skillet until it just begins to brown. Remove from heat.

Separate your eggs, placing yolks in a larger mixing bowl and whites in a smaller one. Into the same bowl as the yolks, add in the flour, sugar, vanilla, baking powder, and spices. Whisk to combine. Add in the browned butter.

Spoon batter into prepared dish and bake
for 30 minutes, until golden on top and spongy to the touch.

Remove the cake from pan and cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes.
In the meantime, whisk together the three milks: evaporated milk, condensed milk and cream. Pour into something from which you can pour easily; I used a measuring cup.

Once the cake is cool, place it on a rimmed cake platter or plate. Poke cake with a skewer or fork to help the milks absorb.

Slowly pour the tres leches mixture over each cake, in batches, allowing each round to soak in. I did this about 4 or 5 times to get all of the liquid poured and absorbed. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To garnish - right before serving - whip 1 C organic heavy whipping cream to form soft peaks. Spoon the cream over the top of the cake. Decorate with mango slices, a dollop of whipped cream in the center, and strawberries to form the center of your "mango blossom."

Friday, May 23, 2014

I read avidly, mostly about food, and I cook all the time. I mean, a girl has to eat, right? So, I decided that if a book inspires me to get into the kitchen, I'll feature it in a series I'm calling - From Page to Plate. I already take part in a bi-monthly foodie book group called Cook the Books, but this is more fast, loose, and completely subject to my own whims. Here we go...

The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais was on a list of books that are being translated to the big screen this year. I mentioned it to a few girlfriends as soon as I saw the list, then I suggested it as a book club read for several moms at school. So, it's pulling multiple duties this year. And it happened to be at the top of the book heap on the side of my bed when I finished reading Twain's Feast.

Page Notes:

The novel follows the footsteps of its narrator, Hassan Haji - from the slums of Mumbai to the zenith of Parisian haute cuisine. Don't be fooled by the title; his journey is many, many miles further than one hundred feet. But those hundred feet - between his family's Indian restaurant and a French restaurant across the street - launch his journey to a three-star Michelin chef.

I was excited to read this book. Food, India, Paris. Glowing
reviews. I figured there was no way this book could disappoint. And it wasn't
completely disappointing. But it felt more fairy tale-like and farcical than I
thought it would be...and rife with cliches. I read somewhere that it's sort of like Slumdog Millionare colliding
with Ratatouille. I can see that comparison. And it's worth a read just for the descriptions of the food. His prose is rich and luscious. Ignore the potholes in the plot.

Most of the time, I'll read a book, especially one that's
been made into a movie, and leave it at that. I typically am disappointed by a
movie adaptation. But this book has me incredibly curious about the translation
from page to big screen. I suspect it might be a rare one and I will actually
like the movie better.

Plate Notes:

I was going to bring Pots de Crème to the book group meeting, but our hostess told me that people almost always bring sweets; she wanted some savories. So, I decided to whip up some easy sweet potato canapés for a sweet-salty bite.

Ingredientsserves a dozen with 2 canapés each

4 medium sweet potatoes

12 thin slices prosciutto

crème fraiche

chopped, fresh herbs

Procedure

Cook whole sweet potatoes in simmering water for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they
just become tender. Drain them and set them aside to cool completely.

Cut the sweet potatoes into thick coins and each slice of cured ham in half so there are 24 pieces
of prosciutto. Layer 1 slice of prosciutto on top of 1 sweet potato round and top with a dollop of crème fraiche Dust with fresh, chopped herbs.

Muddle blueberries in the bottom of a wide-mouth mason jar. Add ice, gin, and Chartreuse. Shake to combine. Strain into small glasses and top each cocktail with 1 oz of sparkling water. Garnish, if you wish, with a couple more fresh blueberries.

Wash the lemons and place them in a large stock pot covered with 8 C of water.

Bring to the boil, then cover the pan and simmer for 2½ hrs or until the lemon skins are tender and can be pierced easily with a toothpick.

When the lemons are cool enough to handle (I let mine steep overnight), remove from the saucepan.

Halve the lemons and remove the seeds – reserving the seeds and any juice that comes out during the process. Cut the lemon peel and
flesh into thin strips. Put all of this, including any
juices, back into the pan.

Put the seeds and the cardamom pods in a small muslin bag. Add this to the pan.

Place 3 C of liquid, making the difference up with water if you don't have that much left from the cooking process, and 3 C of sugar to the pot along with the lemon pulp and rinds. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. Boil rapidly for about 30 mins until the setting point is reached. Test by running your spoon through the mixture. If a path remains - i.e., the marmalade doesn't immediately run back together - it's ready.

Leave to cool for 10 minutes. Spoon jam into warm, sterilized jars and seal straight away. You can water process the jars for 5 minutes or leave them unsealed and store in the fridge.

I'll be using this as part of a glaze next month...and slathering it on toast till then. It's potent, so you don't need very much.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

This month the Pass the Cookbook crew - under the leadership of Kita, the culinary force behind Pass the Sushi - is cooking from Julie's pick. Julie blogs at White Lights on Wednesday and chose a cookbook I've never heard of. So, I was excited to get cooking from it.

We had the option to cook his Angel Hair with Corn, Feta & Tomato, Grilled Salmon & Avocado Salad, or Spicy 50/50 Burger.

The 5 in 5 is an interesting concept albeit a little deceptive...in my opinion. Maybe it took me 5 minutes to blend the meat mixutre. It definitely took longer than 5 minutes to cook the patties; I don't like to undercook meat. So, while I like the 5 minute idea. It wasn't a reality. Still, the flavors were delicious and dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes is great!

I made a few changes: I used a lower fat percentage beef, swapped out for a soy chorizo, made a cilantro slaw, skipped the cheese, and shrunk them into sliders. We'll keep this on our rotation for the summer. Yum!

For the cilantro slaw...In a large mixing bowl, place the cabbage and fresh thyme and cilantro leaves. In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk honey, mayonnaise, and vinegar together to form a smooth dressing. Toss the dressing into the salad. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. Garnish with more thyme and cilantro.

For the sliders...while a large, flat-bottom pan heads, in a
bowl, mix to combine the ground beef and chorizo. Form the meat into 8 slider patties, each about 1" thick. Season the patties on both
sides with salt and pepper.

Add the
olive oil to the preheated pan, then add the sliders. Cook without
moving until a good crust forms, about 4-5 minutes. Flip the burger and cook until heavily
caramelized, another 4-5 minutes. Cover and let cook until the slider is fully cooked and firm to the touch.

Put 1
slider onto each bun bottom, top with slaw and the other half of the
bun. Serve. I'm not big on bread, so I actually just ate my slider on a bed of slaw. Delish!

Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz is hosting this month's Food'N'Flix, picking one I'd never seen before: Bridesmaids. Click to see Evelyne's invitation.I'll just be honest: I am woefully lacking in the sense-of-humor department. So, definitely take my comments with a grain of salt...maybe a whole salt pig full of salt! While I thought this movie would be funny, at least amusing, it was vulgar and predictable. Think scatalogical and juvenile.

I won't spend too much time on the movie because my mom always told me to keep my mouth shut if I didn't have anything nice to say. Good advice, by the way. I'll just say that I considered something Parisian for the bridal shower Helen wanted to throw or Brazilian for the ill-fated lunch during dress-shopping day.

But, in the end, I decided to make something that honored a scene that bordered on touching - the scene with the bag of carrots. If you've seen the movie, I hope you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen the movie, there's a line about one ugly carrot in each bag. And you have to eat it...because it's good luck.

Well, here are some mini cakes made with both lucky and unlucky carrots! Thanks to R for helping me bake them.

Procedure
Preheat oven to 325. Whisk all wet ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Stir in carrots. Fold in dry ingredients until just moistened. Scrape batter into cupcake liners and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely then top with cream cheese frosting.

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Just about any occasion sends me to the kitchen to create. My pots and pans are my culinary canvas. I cook dinners for friends' birthdays, for holidays, and three times a day for my family.

My hope is that my descriptions and photos will inspire you to get out to the farmers markets or down an aisle at the grocery store that intimidates you, try some new ingredients, and get crazy with the herbs and spices! Buon appetito!

All the recipes and photos on my blog are original, unless otherwise noted, and are provided for your enjoyment and use. If you do use any of the content of this blog in yours, I ask that you acknowledge the source. Thank you.